4 posts tagged “austin”

There were two animal anomalies that I witnessed while on my West Coast trip, the Sea Lions at Pier 39 in San Fransisco and the Congress Ave Bats in Austin.

The Sea Lion in San Fransisco have made their permanent home at Pier 39.  You can see them live via the Pier 39 webcam every day.  Boats are no allowed to ship to dock at this Pier, to preserve the animals new home.  It is a very popular tourist site and wonderful place to bring the kids.  Read more about their history at the marine mammal center.

While in Austin, the conference room I was working out of looked out over the Congress Ave Bridge.  I was able to see many beautiful sunsets.  One day while leaving work my team decided to see the Austin Bat population come out at night as the sunset.  Austin is home to the largest urban bat population, which is close to 1.5 million bats.  Even though we had to wait a little for the little flying creatures to come out, the did grace us with there presence in groves.  It looked like a black cloud at the sun set, and under the bridge they came out in swarms.

My music experience in Austin continued last night at the 115 club with 2 sets from New Monsoon.  The 115 club is small bar located near the downtown convention center in Austin.  Even though it was a small crowd New Monsoon still put on a great show. It was great to see a band that can sell out the Fillmore in San Francisco in such a small venue.  During the set break I had an opportunity to talk to some of the band members.  The drummer was new and it was only his 4th show, but he did just fine.  I first heard of the band in 2003 after they won the Jammy for Emerging Artist of the Year and saw them for the first time in 2005 at two Big Summer Classic shows in Schaumburg,IL.  The band played a mix of rock, electronic, bluegrass to jam through the night.  It was well worth the $12 and I might go back to see them again tonight.

The music scene in Austin is one of the best in the world, and events like Austin City Limits and South By Southwest just add to the great music environment the city offers.  This year was my first Austin City Limits experience, and it was one of the better music festivals I went to.  Here is a short synopsis of my day.

STS9 - Started my day of right with an jam packed electric fusion dance part, hosted by Sound Tribe Sector 9.  It was a perfect way to start my day continuing from the festivities the night before. 

Grace Potter and The Nocturnals - This set was a change of pace for Grace Potter as her set resembled more of a hard-rock show than her typical melodies.  Her set surprised me the most and I really enjoyed the high energy she put into, waving her hair around with hardcore headbangs.  She moved around the stage playing guitar, organ, piano, and helping out on a drum "solo" to end the set.

Common - Rap was never really my thing until recently.  After seeing Jay-Z play with Phish I began to see rappers collaboration as an art form.  Common showed me that I can have fun at a rap show.  He even covered a little Kayne West tune, Get 'um High.

Bloc Party - The British rockers really put on a show for the Austin crowd.  There were well over 25,000 at the stage.  And, despite the heat they made several attempts to pump up the energy.  They played several of their hits including Banquet, Helicopters, Hunting For Witches, Like Eating Glass, Waiting for the 7.18, and Songs For Clay.  Kele, lead vocals, spoke to the audience several times, telling a few jokes and inviting the crowd to sing along.  I would also like to note I saw Russel, lead guitarist, this morning at the Hotel but did not say hello because I did not feel like being disappointed by a Bloc Party band member again. However, I finally ran into the band again before their tapping of ACL , the TV show, and had a quick chat.

Wilco - Chicagoans should be proud of the show their home grown band put on at ACL.  It my was first Wilco experience and I really enjoyed it as the sunset on Austin.

Decemberists - I was not expecting such a large crowd for this set.  While I was not able to see the band up close I could hear the music loud and clear.  I had not really listened to the band before the festival but I was pretty impressed with their rocking skills.  Because I had no true affinity to the band I checked out the Ghostland Observatory set as well, but only for a song or two.

Bob Dylan & His Band - The headliner of the festival was Bob Dylan, and it was apparent with the amount of fans that were there to see him play.  With such a large crowd I was unable to see the stage and the screens provided for zero close ups.  I decided that after a long day of music in the hot sun I was going to call it quits.  Bob Dylan's voice has become raspier with age, and unlike wine it does not get better with age.

Note: Pictures will be added when I return to NY

Upon my arrival to Austin my music weekend began.  Right after checking into the hotel I ran into the lead singer of Bloc Party, Kele Okereke.  However, I was not greeted with a warm welcome and simply told by his lady friend "no."  My disappointment would end right there as I hit up 6th St.  I walked along the famous street until I hit Emo's Alternative Lounge, a small 250 person venue on the corner of 6th and Red River.  While the venue was named emo the music was everything but emotional.  After holding up my hand, signaling I needed an extra ticket to the sold out show, for over an hour they opened the door to a couple extra fans as the show started.  Lucky for me I was still waiting by the door and was able to enter.  The show was an ACL after party hosted by STS9, a California based electronic jam band.  I enjoyed watching them live in Chicago at Lollapalooza but experienced a more intimate show this time around.  I have planned by day for Austin City Limits, which includes seeing STS9, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Common, Bloc Party, Wilco, The Decemberists, and the headliner Bob Dylan.